Alp Ustundag

• Prof. Dr. in Industrial Engineering
• Istanbul Technical University

With the increasingly competitive nature of industry today it is very critical for organizations that supply chains continue to work as planned, with smooth and uninterrupted flows of materials from initial suppliers through to final customers. For an efficient supply chain management, risks should be identified, analyzed and managed accurately thr...

Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, social economy develops in an unparalleled speed, while it certainly fosters the consumption of natural resources and the pressure to protect the ecological environment. Hence, there is a two-way relationship between the well-being of humans and the natural environment. In this study, link analysis t...

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is regarded as a promising technology for the optimization of supply chain processes since it improves manufacturing and retail operations from forecasting demand to planning, managing inventory, and distribution. This study uses a simulation model to calculate the expected benefits of an integrated RFID system...

Precise risk management is crucial in options trading, especially in strategies with limited risk and capped profit potential. The Short Iron Condor is a widely adopted strategy due to its structured risk-reward profile. It provides traders with controlled exposure in low-volatility markets while maintaining defined profit and loss parameters. This...

The core principle of investment posits a direct correlation between risk and return. In the language of finance, "risk" refers to the degree of uncertainty or the likelihood of financial loss associated with an investment choice. Conventional wisdom holds that as investment risk escalates, investors expect higher returns as compensation for the in...

Stock market prices are inherently volatile, and accurate forecasting is challenging. An accurate prediction of stock prices helps traders and investors to decide timely buy or sell, so an optimal investment strategy can be built, decreasing investment risks. Traditionally, linear and non-linear methods have been applied to stock market prediction....

Stock market prices are notoriously difficult to predict for traders and investors alike. However, accurate stock market price predictions can result in high returns and substantial percentages of returns for investors and traders. Unfortunately, stock price data is inherently complex, noisy, and nonlinear, making it a challenging task. As technolo...

Making investment decisions under uncertainty has always been a challenge for investors. There have been extensive number of studies in the literature, proposing methods under the portfolio optimization framework. The majority of the theoretical and practical approaches focused on two different perspectives, return and risk. However, optimizing wit...

Besides technical and fundamental analysis, machine learning and sentiment analysis obtained from non-structural news and comments have been studied extensively in financial market prediction in recent years. It is still uncertain how to combine predictions from news, sentiment scores or financial data. In this study, we provide a methodology to ac...

The sentiment analysis of news and social media posts is a growing research area with advancements in natural language processing and deep learning techniques. Although various studies addressing the extraction of the sentiment score from news and other resources for specified stocks or a stock index, still there is a lack of an analysis of the sen...

As the amount of data generated and collected grows, analyzing and modeling so many input variables get more difficult. So, it is important to reduce model complexity and establish simple, accurate and robust models. Feature engineering is the process of using domain knowledge to extract input variables from raw data, prioritize them and select the...

Financial analytics is the application of data science methods and techniques in finance domain. Data analytics has a significant and rising role in helping companies reduce risk and make more efficient financial decisions. Machine learning and advanced analytics are used in several financial applications such as fraud detection and prevention syst...

Humans are decision-makers. Career and lifestyle decisions such as starting a business, purchasing a product, and investing in the future are all personalized decisions. Managers also in businesses make many decisions every day. If there is one truth that may be agreed upon about all managers, it is that they are overwhelmed by the burden of decisi...

Industry 4.0 transformation is creating changing dynamics in business and becoming a highly important concept that requires the support of top management for projects and investment. As a result of transformation processes, Industry 4.0 develops more productive and continuous systems, and companies have been searching for the right adaptation of th...

Since information science and communication technologies had improved significantly, data volumes had expanded. As a result of that situation, advanced pre-processing and analysis of collected data became a crucial topic for extracting meaningful patterns hidden in the data. Therefore, traditional machine learning algorithms generally fail to gathe...

Industry 4.0 transformation is creating changing dynamics in business and becoming a highly important concept that requires the support of top management for projects and investment. As a result of transformation processes, Industry 4.0 develops more productive and continuous systems, and companies have been searching for the right adaptation of th...

From both strategic and technologic perspectives, the Industry 4.0 roadmap visualizes every further step on the route towards an entirely digital enterprise. In order to achieve success in the digital transformation process, it is necessary to prepare the technology roadmap in the most accurate way. The intent of this chapter is to present a techno...

Planning emergency evacuation operations in a proactive manner in public marine transportation systems is a critical success factor for passenger and crew safety. Despite the fact that there is a growing attention on safety issues for marine transportation systems, providing a real-time decision support for evacuation planning under different emerg...

From both strategic and technologic perspectives, the Industry 4.0 roadmap visualizes every further step on the route towards an entirely digital enterprise. In order to achieve success in the digital transformation process, it is necessary to prepare the technology roadmap in the most accurate way. The intent of this chapter is to present a techno...

A business model describes the value offered by the company. Business models have a significant impact on the success of the business. Smart and connected products, which connect the physical objects by using sensors and communication technology, change the nature of traditional businesses and business models. The value propositions,revenue streams...

The value of Digital Traceability technologies are critical for the production systems, due to the high levels of complicated manufacturing processes and logistics operations. In this chapter, digital traceability technologies are discussed to analyze manufacturing processes, such as: tracking work-in-progress, tracking inventories, counting stock,...

Industrial Revolution emerged many improvements in manufacturing and service systems. Because of remarkable and rapid changes appeared in manufacturing and information technology, synergy aroused from the integration of the advancements in information technology, services and manufacturing were realized. These advancements conduced to the increasin...

Companies that transform their businesses and operations regarding to Industry 4.0 principles face complex processes and high budgets due to dependent technologies that effect process inputs and outputs. In addition, since Industry 4.0 transformation creates a change in a business manner and value proposition, it becomes highly important concept th...

The new industry 4.0 era necessities new cross-functional roles with different knowledge and skills that combine IT and production knowledge. The universities and their engineering departments have a vital role in fulfilling this need. There are a number of departments offering these new engineering education requirements, but the characteristics o...

The value of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is critical for the supply chain, especially in the wool yarn industry, due to the high levels of complicated distribution processes and logistics operations in warehouse. This paper considers a case study for the use of RFID technology in the wool yarn industry. It is aimed at the handl...

This book provides a comprehensive guide to Industry 4.0 applications, not only introducing implementation aspects but also proposing a conceptual framework with respect to the design principles. In addition, it discusses the effects of Industry 4.0, which are reflected in new business models and workforce transformation. The book then examines the...

Marine transportation is a vital component of the world’s economy and transportation network. The number of people using passenger ships around the globe is increasing worldwide. Similar to other transportation systems, passenger safety is critical in maritime shipment. As emergency evacuation processes for ships are highly different from and more...

More crowded groups of people gather in passenger ships as a result of increasing demand and variety of navigation. Supporting marine emergency evacuation via effective planning has a vital importance for passengers and crew. The objective of the study is to provide a contribution for performing evacuation in a safe and fast manner by means of eval...

By bringing various technological advances together, Industry 4.0 promises production systems to boost in productivity. The transformation of the existing production systems into an Industry 4.0 factory is a strategic and long-term undertaking which needs a high capital investment, training of personnel and change of the environment and the culture...

Succeeding a cultural and people oriented transformation, Lean Producers adopts the philosophy of doing more with less by eliminating non-value-added activities from production processes to maintain effectiveness, flexibility, and profitability. With the context of Industry 4.0, new solutions are available for combining automation technology with L...

Succeeding a cultural and people oriented transformation, Lean Producers adopts the philosophy of doing more with less by eliminating non-value-added activities from production processes to maintain effectiveness, flexibility, and profitability. With the context of Industry 4.0, new solutions are available for combining automation technology with L...

Since radio frequency identification technology usage is increasing, applications in this area have a rising trend day by day. However, successful studies related to radio frequency identification implementation, which combine many different areas, are not sufficient enough. Studies have mostly emphasized theoretical approaches rather than being pr...

Logistics is an important sector considering the increasingly competitive nature of industry today. Large-scale companies and third-party logistics providers want the most economical and reliable forecasting mechanism for pricing the truckload spot market in the sphere of logistics and supply chains. This paper investigates the price forecasting of...

Optimizing the allocation of residence types has a great impact on efficient management of resources for construction projects. Hence, determining appropriate allocation of residence types provides effective financial activities, especially for large-scaled residential projects. Subjectivity and vagueness in the determination of price per m² for re...

Waste management in health institutions has become important in recent years because of the increase in population and industrialisation. Waste generated from health institutions has risks for human health and the environment. Therefore, this paper presents a reverse logistics optimisation for waste collection and disposal in Turkish health institu...

Real Time Location System (RTLS) has gained importance in contemporary world since they allow real time positioning of assets, people and workflows. They can be used in different sectors to increase work efficiency and quality in areas of application. The selection of the appropriate RTLS technology becomes a major decision problem since it has a m...

New product portfolio management (NPPM) is the dynamic decision process of evaluating, selecting, prioritizing, and allocating resources to product development projects. The New Product Development (NPD) project decision process deals with uncertain and changing information, dynamic opportunities, several goals and strategic considerations. Stage G...

Based on empirical insights, quantitative decision support systems and the need for more advanced models reflecting category managers' actual decision problems is inevitable. The objective of this paper is to develop retail shelf space management using simulation based optimization. The focus of this research is therefore to examine retail shelf sp...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the best approach to customer segmentation and to extrapolate associated rules for this based on recency, frequency and monetary (RFM) considerations as well as demographic factors. In this study, the impacts of RFM and demographic attributes have been challenged in order to enrich factors that lend...

Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) have gained importance in contemporary world since they allow real time positioning of assets, people and workflows. They can be used in different sectors to increase work efficiency and quality in areas of application. The selection of the appropriate RTLS technology becomes a major decision problem since it has a...

Purpose – Distribution network design (DND) has become an important strategic decision for supply chain managers with increasing competitive nature of the industry nowadays. The purpose of this paper is to propose a web-based decision support system (DSS) for fuzzy distribution network optimization. For this purpose, a web-based DSS using fuzzy lin...

Material handling devices (MHDs) transfer the materials among the machines, work stations and support services in manufacturing and distribution facilities. It is very important to select and assign the required number and types of MHDs to minimize the operating and investment costs. Generally, the parameters have uncertain values by solving the MH...

Considering high competitive nature of today's industries, being on plan is very vital for supply chain network of an organization. All the flows of materials from initial suppliers to final customers need to be smooth. Hence, distribution network design is an important strategic decision problem for the supply chain managers. The aim of this resea...

A medical diagnosis system (DRCAD), which consists of two sub-modules Bayesian and rule-based inference models, is presented in this study. Three types of tests are conducted to assess the performances of the models producing synthetic data based on the ALARM network. The results indicate that the linear combination of the aforementioned models lea...

The apparel retail sector is especially confronted with challenges and problems in logistics processes such as shrinkage, counterfeiting, out of stock situations and needs to find solutions for improvements. With the help of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, the services for apparel supply chain will be able to provide data or i...

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is one of the straightforward technologies being used by a number of both manufacturing and service systems. Investments in RFID technologies are expected not only to reduce costs but also to increase business value. Moreover, integrating achievements and costs of RFID investments in a consistent man...

RFID can be defined as a strategic technology tool redesigning business processes, cutting costs, and improving the operational performance. It is used for a wide variety of application areas ranging from retail to manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and defense. It may improve the potential benefits of supply chain management through increase of...

Each physical item is given an identity and tracked in the supply chain in an automated and timely manner via RFID technology. Tracking physical assets, inventory, and personnel with automated systems improve performance of the system in terms of cost and process flow. It is an important decision for a company to invest RFID technology. Consecutive...

Sharing the tagging cost among supply chain members is an important issue for item-level implementation of RFID in an open-loop where the tags can only be used once. In this chapter, an economic analysis by calculating the net present value (NPV) of an RFID investment on a three-echelon supply chain is presented and the effects of sharing the taggi...

Real options theory offers a suitable process to consider uncertainties and flexibilities in taking investment decision. This approach highlight options thinking into contemporary Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) project evaluation and management. In this chapter, we describe the options embedded in RFID investments and tools for quantifying o...

Third-party logistics providers (3PL) store and transport large volumes of different goods and deal with a number of logistics services clients simultaneously. Due to the increasing demand for automatic identification, 3PL providers turned to RFID to help them improve total product traceability and increase accuracy. However, the implementation of...

A key issue in contemporary supply chain management, Distribution Network Design (DND) addresses location and capacity of warehouses and retail outlets, together with the manufacturing plant and supply sources. An effective DND should not only provide the minimization of transportation and inventory costs, but also increase the level of service ava...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can find a wide range of application areas in many sectors such as automotive, logistics, retail, healthcare, and libraries. RFID can provide long-term benefits to libraries in process, traceability, and security. It can enhance existing barcode systems by providing additional features such as automa...

RFID technology can find a wide range of application areas in many sectors, such as automotive, logistics, retail, etc. Nowadays, RFID becomes more important in aerospace industry. Especially, in aircraft maintenance activities, RFID improves productivity and makes processes faster which reduces cycle times and inventories. In addition, it helps av...

Warehouse processes in supply chain operations contain risks which lead to a poor supply chain performance. Therefore, risk analysis in warehouse operations is a critical issue to increase both the supply chain efficiency and the customer service level. In this study, fuzzy FMEA method is used to evaluate the risks of warehouse operations. Ten fail...

Since perishable products such as fresh produce, dairy and meat have a finite usable lifetime and constitute more than a third of the worldwide sales at grocery retailers, controlling the inventories of these products is increasingly important. Without alignment of physical inventory and information system inventory, inventory information becomes i...

Knowledge discovery process from databases has gained importance recently. Finding and using the valuable and meaningful data which is hidden in large databases can have strategic importance for the organizations to gain competitive advantage. In this context, data mining methods are used to analyze customer purchasing data which is called “market...

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has been taking great attention of industry for its various advantages. This technology enables to monitor and track items in production facilities, warehouse operations and distribution; however, RFID system performance is dramatically affected by the operational factors (controllable factors affecting the sys...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causal relationships among the factors influencing the technology transfer offices' (TTOs) performance. Design/methodology/approach – The fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) method is used in this study. Findings – The findings from this research is that TTO human resources, industry research deman...

Science parks are crucial for an innovative economic setting since they act as ‘development catalysts’ driving the startup of newly established high-tech firms. The selection of the appropriate science park becomes a major decision for start-up entrepreneurs since it is a multi-criterion decision problem which includes both qualitative and quantita...

Risk evaluation has been an important task for real estate investments in uncertain economic conditions. Fuzzy rule based systems (FRBS) have been the most popular and easiest way to capture and represent fuzzy, vague, imprecise and uncertain domain knowledge. This study proposes a hybrid risk evaluation model for real estate investments which inte...

RFID technology does not require line of sight and provides fast and accurate reading from a great distance without human intervention. Albeit RFID is superior to other identification systems, such as barcode, complicated cost and benefit structure inhibits worldwide adoption. As a response, there is a wide range of cost–benefit models used by both...

Knowledge discovery process from databases has gained importance recently. Finding and using the valuable and meaningful data which is hidden in large databases can have strategic importance for the organizations to gain competitive advantage. Knowledge discovery process that is based on data mining consists of two methods named symbolic and numeri...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology introduces the opportunity for increased visibility by facilitating easy tracking and identifying of goods, assets and even living things. The number of RFID applications and users in various fields are growing. However, high investment cost and inadequate technical capability still remain as challen...

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology provides many advantages for pallet pooling systems. In this study, simulation modeling is used to evaluate the impact of RFID on a pallet pooling system. The outputs of the simulation model are used in the cost-benefit analysis of the RFID implementation on a supply chain consisting of a pallet supp...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a promising technology for optimising supply chain processes, as it improves manufacturing and retail operations from forecasting demand to planning, managing inventory, and distribution. In this study, a simulation model is used to calculate the net present value (NPV) of an RFID investment on a three-echel...

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is an automatic identification system consisting of a tag and a reader which can communicate with radio waves. Within the business processes it is possible to read and write the data from and into the microchip included tags from long distances. In this way, with lower costs more efficient process ma...

Sales forecasting is important for facilitating effective and efficient allocation of scarce resources. However, how to best model and forecast sales has been a long-standing issue. There is no best forecasting method that is applicable in all circumstances. Therefore, confidence in the accuracy of sales forecasts is achieved by corroborating the...

Sales forecasting is important for facilitating effective and efficient allocation of scarce resources. However, how to best model and forecast sales has been a long-standing issue. There is no best forecasting method that is applicable in all circumstances. Therefore, confidence in the accuracy of sales forecasts is achieved by corroborating the...

Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology has been in use for several decades to track and identify goods, assets, and even living things. Recently, however, RFID has generated widespread corporate interest as a means to waste management performance. In this paper, a vehicle routing model for waste collection is developed. The model not only...

Sales forecasting has a great impact on facilitating effective and efficient allocation of scarce resources. However, how to best model and forecast sales has been a long-standing issue. There is no best method of forecasting in all circumstances. Therefore, confidence in the accuracy of sales forecasts is derived by corroborating the results using...

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is an Auto-ID technology which uses radio waves to automatically identify the individual items. Using RFID systems for identifying and tracking objects, it is possible to improve the performance of a supply chain process in terms of operational efficiency, accuracy and security. RFID systems can be implemented...

There is no doubt that managing the flow of goods depends on monitoring the real flow in the physical world meanwhile in the digital world. Today automatic identification (auto-ID) technologies are used to close the gap between these two different environments by online updating of databases as the materials flow in the chain. From this point of vi...

RFID systems have been gaining more and more popularity in areas such as supply chain management and logistics. As the development of RFID systems increases, the performance evaluation of these systems becomes more important. In this study, we propose an UHF bulk reading method for cargo operations considering factors such as antenna position, read...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is one of the most promising new technologies to provide better monitoring and coordination in the supply chain. However, high investment cost and inadequate technical capability remain as challenges for RFID system implementations. That being the case, fair evaluation of savings associated with increasing perf...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology introduces the opportunity for increased material and product visibility by facilitating easy tracking and identifying of containers and their contents. Throughout the manufacturing or distribution processes, this technology has been utilized by various organizations. In addition to wide use of dispo...

Using Auto-ID (Automatic Identification) systems, each physical item is given an identity and tracked in the supply chain in an automated and timely manner. Tracking physical assets, inventory, and personnel with automated systems improve operational efficiency. A barcode or RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader can gather the necessary data...

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is an Auto-ID technology which uses radio waves to automatically identify the individual items. Using RFID systems for identifying and tracking objects, it is possible to improve the performance of a supply chain process in terms of operational efficiency, accuracy and security. RFID systems can be implemented...

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is fast becoming an icon of the mobile and wireless industry. RFID is an Auto-ID technology which uses radio waves to automatically identify the individual items. The system consists of two elements that communicate with each other via radio waves: a tag (or transponder) and a reader. Using RFID tags, it is pos...